‘Joanne’ Makes America Greater — Inside the Album and the Movement
Post election, coupled with its visual aesthetic, its sonic palette, and overarching message, this record inspires a contrapositive crusade to the incoming American administration.
The American lifestyle and its assumed values have been fluctuating in the past two years. Do citizens desire acceptance and progress, or do they demand a sense of comfort in supremacy and homogeneity?
The recent result from the United States Presidential Election had many questioning who we really are as a nation. Are we “the land of free” or “the home of the hate”?
This outcome left many Americans not only doubting our global identity, but wondering if our preconceived notions of the “American Dream” were actually just a “Perfect Illusion.”
It is clear that for a profuse number of American citizens — especially the younger generation — are apprehensive and in some cases are bellicose about what is expected in the next four years.
Before the dawn of the election, Lady Gaga (born Stefani Germanotta) released fifth studio album, Joanne, which many viewed as her “most personal” work, and even were taken aback by the “stripped down” nature of the record.
Throughout the conspicuous rise of these divisive political factions, Gaga, known for her attention grabbing visuals, and ideologically quirky portrayals, concluded that it would be sensible to take a step back from the world, and rather than being at its center, she decided to achieve musical lure from her timely observations.
After releasing ARTPOP, a sonically ambitious but less commercially acclaimed album filled of artistic liberation, and abstract historical motifs about creativity and mythology, Gaga recorded Cheek to Cheek with Jazz sage Tony Bennett.
Following a creative cleanse and artistic rebirth due to Bennett’s mentoring, the performer took her talents to the small screen and expressed internal angst in American Horror Story Season 5: Hotel, as the Countess.
Coupled with her Horror Story debut were emotional and vocally pristine award show performances, including the Oscar performance of activism charged “Till it Happens to You,” an autobiographical tale about sexual violence.
This shift from the visual to the vocal kept the world guessing about the once meat wearing shape shifting pop icon. These transitional projects and general rhetoric around them stood as a manifestation of the main event: Joanne.
I argue that this record is just as much of a movement as Gaga’s former works (i.e., the self-love analog Born this Way and the concept albums The Fame and The Fame Monster).
The difference in her fifth LP, however, is its ability to achieve a pandemic outreach that isn’t limited to millennials, adolescents and ears of pop music.
Joanne is an album in which Germanotta examines the nation and the society she took a step back from, while recounting personal narratives.
At its core, the record explains the American experience rather than the personal thematic, “day in the life” approach she gave to previous records.
Through its sonic pallet, general aesthetic, lyrical writing, and Gaga’s general elocution surrounding the work, it is apparent that Joanne’s intent, and the current message of Germanotta is not only to relate to and heal our nation, but to inspire it.
The Sonics of Joanne
For many, the overall sound of Joanne was startling and even “confused.”
Reviewers were actually dumbfounded that the New York native decided to shed the EDM hooks of ARTPOP, the intense theatricality of The Fame Monster, and instead went with what she refers to as “pop-cowboy-dance-soul-funk-rock.”
“[the songs are] small theater pieces extruded from other imaginary productions and collected in one miscellany bin,” New York Times music and culture critic, Jon Caramanica said.
While I understand that there is a substantial amount of auditory diversity on the record, that is one of the work’s strengths rather than an inherent weakness. Gaga went for a melting-pot type record on where she was unshackled and free from the constricting clutches of the rigid music industry.
By achieving such variety on the album, she painted her own picture of American values. This “miscellany bin” or melting-pot work sheds light on how Gaga envisions her American values.
In reference to its sonic pallet, Joanne is a record that executes freedom, and American ideology held by many.
For Texas Native and college junior Milagros Luna, those American ideologies lie in a person’s ability “to be able to become whatever [they] want to be.”
“[America] a place where creativity and ingenuity thrives. It represents possibility and hope,” Robin Price, a middle aged woman from southern New York said.
Germanotta, who experiments with country twangs on “Ayo” and “Sinners Prayer”, and 80's rock on “Perfect Illusion” and “Diamond Heart,” creatively conceived “mixed-bag” Joanne. In the United States, inventive impulses have driven our nation forward.
But, Rob Sheffield of Rollingstone found the sonic versatility of the record as simple acts of mimicry rather than elements of expression and freedom.
“ […] ‘Dancin’ in Circles,’ a reggae ode to she-bopping co-written by Beck that sounds like a No Doubt cover band who’d call themselves Spiderwebs or Hella Good…’Angel Down' reminds you what a fine job Jewel used to do, opening with the self-parodic announcement…”
The point that glam rock extraordinaire Sheffield misses is that regardless of the influences from Gwen Stefani’s No Doubt or from yodeler Jewel, the cuts on Joanne remain to be original contributions.
Gaga has a wider vocal ability compared to Stefani, and in “Dancing in Circles,” Germanotta hits an upper belt that the former Voice judge couldn’t rival.
Also, the lack intonation and annunciation is a drawback when listening to Jewel. But, when Gaga utters a “self-parodic announcement” you can actually understand the communicated content.
The homage to artists such Stefani, Jewel and even Motown greats — as exhibited in the Florence Welch assisted piece “Hey Girl” — pay tribute to America’s musical history, which in periods of agony, has been reliant upon black-soul music.
“In times of distress and illness in America, I think black music has done a very good job of being the voice of the underrepresented and the oppressed,” Zeke Starling, 22 from Pinole, California said. “[Joanne] took some aspects of black music and funneled them through the vessel of rap. It’s jazz and funk and soul…”
While Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic argued the musicality of Joanne was “trying to hide its personality,” the charisma and charm of the album lies in the juxtaposition of ballads “Million Reasons” and title track “Joanne” adjacent to country, soul and rock and roll.
Joanne estranges itself from the homogeneity in pop music along with sampling homegrown musical history, which in turn embodies America’s values and inhibitions.
Joanne Lyrically
While sonic diversity is achieved, the lyrical foundation of Joanne is what illustrates the country we’ve become and foreshadows the nation Gaga believes we are bound to be.
Although this is a record with deep personal roots (i.e., the reference to loosing her paternal aunt in the title track, and the aspirations to move on in break up anthem“Million Reasons”), Gaga contributes thought pieces through a majority of Joanne’s track list which comment on societal discourses including: the effect of social media on authenticity, female empowerment, police brutality and ideological animosity.
Social Media and Authenticity
The record’s first single, Perfect illusion, while deemed the black sheep of the record, is interpreted as personal and societal. A lost love or friend can mutually be described as a “Perfect Illusion,” or someone without authenticity.
Aside from the obvious allusion to imperfect love, “PI” is the story of reclaiming the “human connection.”
“How do we look through these images that we know are filtered and altered, and decipher what is reality and what is a ‘perfect illusion’…,” Gaga said.
In lieu of the outbreak of “fake news,” the fight for legitimacy couldn’t be more salient.
Female Empowerment and Camaraderie
“Hey Girl” and “Grigio Girls” tell tales of female unity and fortitude.
While “Grigio” explains the rallying of friends in support of a sick friend, the Florence Welch duet refers to the cultural expectation for women to pit against one another rather than foster sorority.
If the election has provided one news flash, it remains — sexism is still prevalent and now more rampant than ever. Womanhood and the female experience remains a motif on Joanne.
We can make it easy if we lift each other
Acts of Racism and Hate Speech
While the above selections tap general collective societal challenges, “Angel Down” and “Come to Mama” relay moments Gaga is ashamed of and even dumbfounded by our nation.
Gaga refers to the “Angels” who were killed by sheer “chaos” and insanity perpetuated by systemic racism in America.
Shots were fired on the street
By the church where we used to meet
“Come to Mama” is a quintessential track in explaining current enigmatic America. My results came as no surprise; Americans are terrified of enraged hate speech that threatens basic citizenry in this country. Gaga simplifies our cries and anger in one phrase:
“Everybody’s got to love each other”
Everybody’s got to love each other
Stop throwin’ stones at your sisters and your brothers
Man, it wasn’t that long ago we were all living in the jungle
So why do we gotta put each other down
When there’s more than enough love to g-g-go around?
It’s incredibly frustrating that these diverse complex messages coexist on the record, and The Atlantic would instead prefer writing from Germanotta that equates with the “small and specific” composition style of Taylor Swift.
It was apparent that this time around for Gaga, her record was about a mature message rather than tongue-in-cheek style writing.
“So now I’m thinking more about what it is I want to say and what I want to leave on Earth,” Gaga said of her writing leading up to Joanne.
But according to Starling, this notion of maturing and artistic growth is the most American value there is.
“…that’s the truest American value there is, the desire to change and the desire to grow — that’s where we trace back our roots …,," Starling said. “I think music that draws from that desire to change and grow is what makes the biggest impact in music, art and people’s lives.”
The Aesthetic
The most prominent symbols of American unity involved in this Joanne album cycle are the aesthetic motifs Gaga chose to portray. These visuals are the most iconic she’s adorned since her depiction of the Goddess of love, Venus.
She decided to go full blown Americana while sporting leather, vintage guitars, cowboy boots and wide brimmed pink hat.
The unity I refer to in these stylistic choices can be traced back to the irony laced in her fashion selections. In an earlier review of the record, I explain the paradox in Gaga as a “modern archetype for liberal ideology” while being coupled with traditional American garb.
This clash of the conservative and the progressive in fashion demonstrates to this country, the possibility of diffusion and intersection in America.
The aesthetic diversion for Gaga from futuristic eccentric to classical Americana parallels the auditory and lyrical components of the record. Clearly, these choices reflect the aspiration to achieve a wider audience and outreach in an attempt to unite a divided nation.
Discourse Surrounding Joanne
Leading up to the release of Joanne, Gaga kept a keen eye on the world and began spreading this message of love and kindness way before the election became the most malignant.
A germane example of this came at her foundation’s Emotion Revolution Summit, held at Yale University’s Center for Emotional Intelligence last fall. Gaga spoke about projecting inner pain into action, and what it means to be mindful.
Germanotta explained that being unconscious is the contrapositive of mindfulness.
“So don’t be unconscious all day on your fucking phone,” she said.
This declaration of expression and authenticity was the precursor to the message of “Perfect Illusion.”
But aside from mindfulness, an ideal Gaga has carried throughout her entire career, and even before Joanne’s political discourse, Germanotta has always been about unity.
Unity will carry itself all the way to the Super Bowl in February, as Gaga was chosen by the NFL due to the messages her record adorns, and its connection to the city of Houston.
“What I really want is to bring people together that normally wouldn’t talk to each other…fandom can do that, it’s that powerful,” the performer said in a Pepsi promotional video for the performance.
“I guess that’s always been my dream, to bring people together through music.” — Lady Gaga
Drew Schieffelin, a student at Santa Monica College in California discussed the impact of the record.
“I relate to it because of how the record represents community. A large part of it is about coming together and spreading love which is a message [Gaga] has always spread, “ Schieffelin said.
Community is also a value of high school biology teacher Jessica Hughes, whom seeks comfort when faced with a trying situation.
“I reach out to my ‘community’ — family and friends — this might mean having a conversation to process whatever it is that I need to heal from…”
The community Lady Gaga has fostered in the creation of her legion of Little Monsters will continue as she strives to reach people of all narratives such as Americans struggling to pay the bills and the diehard NFL fan listening for a guitar riff.
‘ Joanne’ the Movement — Juxtaposing the President Elect.
Many months after the summit, Gaga spoke about more foreshadowing rhetoric in a sit-down discussion with the Dali Lama.
She declared the ways in which “evil wins," and described in part how it manifests. To Gaga, evil is characterized as “invisible” and able to divide its “enemies into tiny parts.”
Today, that evil has manifested into the most powerful position on the planet, our President Elect.
But, some have actually compared Gaga to the next inhabitant of the oval office. Daniel Henniger of the Wall Street Journal pronounced that our President Elect is a performance artist similar to the one and only LG herself.
While they have both defied the odds in their respective fields, Gaga is the performance artist who has inhabited America’s values rather than thwarting them.
Instead of tweeting about minutia and entering social media spats, Germanotta is the rhetorical antithesis of Donald J. Trump.
She perpetuates love and kindness instead of arrogance and pride.
But maybe Henniger has a point. Gaga is similar to the President Elect in method rather than in verbatim.
Germanotta has created a movement parallel to that of Mr. Trump, and for her, that movement is the reclaiming of interpersonal connection.
This salvaging of verbal connection and conversation appear to be what might help our nation, according to Geneseo resident Jim Memmott and college senior Aleem Griffiths.
“There have to be conversations. I tried this one with a Republican friend. We just took issues, free trade, abortion, capital punishment, etc., and checked off where we stood on each. We found some surprising areas of agreement, some obvious disagreement,” Memmott said.
“…it’s going start when people try to listen, understand and respect people’s opinion,” Griffiths said.
Enjoying Joanne allows us to have these conversations that Memmott and Griffiths allude to.
But, it won’t be enough to only take in the thematic principles of the record.
Gaga wants all of her little monsters new and old to speak up and fight, as for her, “having something to say is the best ‘reason to stay.'”
